Saturday, August 11, 2007

(Please follow the link for the complete interview. Photo of the author and David Hewelett at the site.)

ComicsOnline Interviews Stargate's David Hewlett

**snippage**

MS: What can fans look forward to seeing with your character this season?

DH: I think the more sarcastic I can be the better. It's interesting. This season is a big change for us. All of a sudden you have certain characters interacting that you didn't have before. McKay is in this wonderful situation; he's interacting with his girlfriend, and Samantha Carter and the new Doctor, played by Jewel Staite. He's really in his element right now. It's neat. It's really playing with all the character stuff we had previously set up and really breaking it down and changing things this year.

**snippage**

Stargate Atlantis returns to the SciFi Channel this September [September 28 at a NEW time - 10pm] and David's new film A Dog's Breakfast is now available on iTunes.

Farscape was a show that took me by suprise. I didn't watch the first episode and only casually dipped into the subsequent few, but then something strange began to happen. I found myself watching it more and more, and noticing the humour, the great stories, the great acting, and the central character of astronaut John Crichton lost at the other side of the universe, but with a ready quip and a likable style, he grew into his surroundings and so began to enthrall me with a set of stories that epitomised great television.

I decided that if there was ever a reason to interview the actor behind the character, I would. Before that show, I never even knew who Ben Browder was. But I soon grew to realise that this was a guy of immense talent, intelligence and wit, who really is a hero.

And here it is! The interview...But not just the radio version oh no! Whilst talking to Ben about his work on Farscape and SG1, it occurred to me that if you're a fan, you might like to hear it all, you know, warts and all.

So with Ben's permission, here is all of our chat, the bonus unheard material you might say.

A sinister selection of enemies faced Jack O'Neill in his eight years with SG-1, but every single one fell victim to his greatest asset: his wit. Never afraid to quip at an enemy, O'Neill is worth having around for the goofi ness alone. However, he has the self-sacrificing dramatic qualities that are needed in a heroic protagonist, too.Take `Lost City', for example, in Season 7: knowing it could kill him if used again, O'Neill downloaded the Ancient knowledge back into his brain, searching for a way to defeat Anubis and the Goa'uld. No wonder he earned the rank of Major General.

# 10 John Crichton

FARSCAPEYear: 1999Creator: Rockne S O'BannonPlayed by: Ben Browder

Crichton's tale is another of science fiction's great `fish out of water' scenarios, but it's his infl uence and determination that makes him hero material. Aided by some terrific characterisation on the part of the writers, Crichton's struggles in his head made for some pristine sci-fi viewing, and his relationship with Aeryn waswell thought out and touching as well.

The trousers made the character, though. The amount of effort that Ben Browder must have put into getting dressed each day must have been astronomical. A few more seasons of the character would have done us nicely, but we're thankful for the miniseries, at the very least.